History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.s3.4

v1.c14.s3.4

4. The chief product of the valley besides saffron (called Kāshmir in Sanskrit for this reason) is rice. In ancient times rice was also the chief article of barter. Government due was of course paid in kind and hence there was a large quantity of rice collected for government and government gave rice naturally to its servants as pay. Other people also usually gave rice in payment for services and in exchange for other things purchased. This state of things may remind any old inhabitant of Konkan of what happened there before the advent of the British. Kashmir was in fact a counterpart of Konkan in this respect.